Category Archives: US immigration

Massachusetts students and teachers protest teen’s ‘inhumane’ arrest by Ice

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Milford high school students walk out to support classmate Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, with teachers following: ‘We are inspired by the brave young people’

Students at Massachusetts’s Milford high school staged a walkout on Monday to show support for their classmate Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, who was headed to volleyball practice when he was detained over the weekend by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents who were actually looking for his father.

Gomes Da Silva, a Brazilian national, entered the US in 2012 on a student visa, according to a court document since filed by his lawyer. The filing states that Gomes Da Silva’s student visa status has since lapsed – but that he is eligible for and intends to apply for asylum.

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Judge orders 72-hour stay for Boston teen arrested by Ice on way to volleyball practice

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Marcelo Gomes Da Silva must be in state for ‘fair’ chance for court to review merits on any contested issues, says judge

A Boston high school student who was detained by immigration agents on Saturday while he was on his way to volleyball practice must be kept in Massachusetts for at least 72 hours, a federal judge said on Monday.

Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, 18, entered the United States on a student visa, according to a lawsuit filed on his behalf after his arrest. While his student visa status has lapsed, he is eligible for and intends to apply for asylum.

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US homeland security removes list of ‘sanctuary’ cities after sheriffs’ criticism

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President of sheriffs’ association says ‘noncompliant’ list ‘violated the core principles of trust’ with law enforcement

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) removed a list of “sanctuary” states, cities and counties from its website following sharp criticism from a sheriffs’ association that said a list of “noncompliant” sheriffs could severely damage the relationship between the Trump administration and law enforcement.

DHS on Thursday published a list of what it called sanctuary jurisdictions that it deemed were included in areas that have a policy of limiting cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. The list prompted a response from the National Sheriffs’ Association, which represents more than 3,000 elected sheriffs across the country and generally supports federal immigration enforcement.

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US immigration authorities collecting DNA information of children in criminal database

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Collection of migrants’ DNA has increased by 5,000% in three years in a ‘massive expansion of genetic surveillance’

US immigration authorities are collecting and uploading the DNA information of migrants, including children, to a national criminal database, according to government documents released earlier this month.

The database includes the DNA of people who were either arrested or convicted of a crime, which law enforcement uses when seeking a match for DNA collected at a crime scene. However, most of the people whose DNA has been collected by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), the agency that published the documents, were not listed as having been accused of any felonies. Regardless, CBP is now creating a detailed DNA profile on migrants that will be permanently searchable by law enforcement, which amounts to a “massive expansion of genetic surveillance”, one expert said.

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Supreme court allows White House to revoke temporary protected status of many migrants

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Ruling reverses hold on Trump administration’s ending humanitarian parole of Venezuelan migrants and others

The US supreme court on Friday announced it would allow the Trump administration to revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian and Nicaraguan migrants living in the United States, bolstering the Republican president’s drive to step up deportations.

The court put on hold Boston-based US district judge Indira Talwani’s order halting the administration’s move to end the immigration humanitarian “parole” protections granted to 532,000 people by Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, potentially exposing many of them to rapid removal from the country, while the detailed case plays out in lower courts.

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Trump administration tells border shelters helping migrants may be illegal

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NGO shelters along US-Mexico border, which have long provided aid, rattled by letter from Fema

The Trump administration has continued releasing people charged with being in the country illegally to non-governmental shelters along the US-Mexico border after previously telling those same organizations that providing immigrants with temporary housing and other aid may violate a law used to prosecute smugglers.

Border shelters, which have long provided lodging and meals before offering transportation to the nearest bus station or airport, were rattled by a letter from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) that raised “significant concerns” about potentially illegal activity and demanded detailed information in a wide-ranging investigation.

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Court halts Trump administration’s effort to send eight men to South Sudan

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The group is in temporary custody of homeland security in Djibouti following challenges in court

Eight men the Trump administration attempted to send to South Sudan are in temporary custody in Djibouti after a federal court ruling halted their removal, officials confirmed on Thursday.

The Trump administration had attempted to send the men, who it said had been convicted of criminal offenses, to their home countries: officials said two each were from Myanmar and Cuba and the others were from Vietnam, Laos, Mexico and South Sudan.

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Mahmoud Khalil finally allowed to hold one-month-old son for the first time

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Detained Palestinian activist granted contact by judge who blocked Trump administration’s efforts to separate family

Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate and detained Palestinian activist, was finally allowed to hold his infant son for the first time Thursday – one month after he was born – thanks to a federal judge who blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to keep the father and infant separated by a Plexiglass barrier.

The visit came before a scheduled immigration hearing for Khalil, a legal permanent resident who has been detained in a Louisiana jail since 8 March.

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Judge rules White House violated order by deporting migrants to South Sudan

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Eight people apparently deported as their lawyers say they are at ‘risk of harm’ and that there is ‘no clarity’

A federal judge has ruled the US government’s attempt to deport migrants to South Sudan “unquestionably” violated an earlier court order.

Brian E Murphy, the US district judge in Massachusetts, made the remark at an emergency hearing he had ordered in Boston following the Trump administration’s apparent removal of eight people to South Sudan, despite most of them being from other countries.

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US deportations cast spotlight on South Sudan’s deepening political crisis

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World’s youngest country is facing renewed outbreak of tensions that have plagued it for years

An attempt by the US to deport South Asian migrants to South Sudan has cast a spotlight on the world’s youngest country, which is experiencing a renewed outbreak of the political tensions that have plagued it over the years.

On Wednesday, a US federal judge said the deportation of migrants from the US to South Sudan “unquestionably” violated a court order requiring that any people being deported to a third country should receive due process.

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Qatar defends offer of plane gift to Trump as ‘a normal thing between allies’ – US politics live

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PM Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani dismisses concerns country is trying to buy influence as Schumer introduces bill to block such a move

President Donald Trump is expected to head to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet congressional Republicans as they aim to reach agreement on a sweeping tax-cut bill, with their narrow majority divided over the scope of spending cuts, reports Reuters.

Hardline Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Friday briefly blocked the advance of the bill – which nonpartisan analysts say could add $3tn to $5tn to the federal government’s $36.2tn debt – but relented on Sunday.

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Mohsen Mahdawi, released from Ice custody, graduates from Columbia

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Palestinian activist, freed just over two weeks ago from federal detention, crosses graduation stage to cheers

Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi, released just over two weeks ago from federal detention, crossed the graduation stage on Monday to cheers from his fellow graduates.

The Palestinian activist was arrested by immigration authorities in Colchester, Vermont, while attending a naturalization interview. He was detained and ordered to be deported by the Trump administration on 14 April despite not being charged with a crime.

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At least 50 migrants sent to El Salvador prison entered US legally, report finds

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Cato analysis goes against Trump administration’s claim that only undocumented people were deported to Cecot

At least 50 Venezuelan men sent by the Trump administration to a prison in El Salvador had entered the United States legally, according to a review by the Cato Institute.

The report, published by the libertarian thinktank on Monday, analyzed the available immigration data for only a portion of the men who were deported to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), and focuses on the cases where records could be found.

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US supreme court allows Trump to revoke protected status for Venezuelans

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Justices grant homeland security request to end temporary protected status while appeal proceeds in lower court

Donald Trump’s administration can end legal protections that have shielded about 350,000 Venezuelans from potential deportation, the supreme court ruled on Monday.

America’s highest court granted a request by Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, to revoke temporary protected status (TPS) for the Venezuelans while an appeal proceeds in a lower court.

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Trump officials reportedly consider TV gameshow with US citizenship as prize

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Homeland security department reviewing ‘out-of-the-box’ pitch in which immigrants would compete for citizenship

The US Department of Homeland Security is reportedly considering an “out-of-the-box” pitch to participate in a television gameshow that would have immigrants compete to obtain US citizenship.

Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin described the pitch to the New York Times as a “celebration of being an American” and said the show would include challenges based on American traditions.

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Supreme court blocks Trump bid to resume deportations under 1798 law

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Administration’s appeal to quickly deport Venezuelans under Alien Enemies Act rejected with two dissenting

The supreme court has rejected the Trump administration’s request to remove a temporary block on deportations of Venezuelans under a rarely used 18th-century wartime law.

Over two dissenting votes, the justices acted on an emergency appeal from lawyers for Venezuelan men who have been accused of being gang members, a designation that the administration says makes them eligible for rapid removal from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

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Judge dismisses trespassing charges against people crossing US-Mexico border

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New Mexico judge rules immigrants did not know they were entering US military zone, marking setback for Trump

A federal judge in New Mexico on Thursday dismissed trespassing charges against dozens of immigrants caught in a new military zone on the US-Mexico border, marking a setback for Trump administration efforts to raise penalties for unlawful crossings into the US.

Chief US magistrate judge Gregory Wormuth began filing the dismissals late on Wednesday, ruling that immigrants did not know they were entering the military zone in New Mexico and therefore could not be charged, according to court documents and a defense attorney.

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California governor seeks to exclude undocumented from Medicaid program

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Measure targeting immigrants is to help close added $12bn deficit that Newsom blamed on ‘Trump slump’

The California governor, Gavin Newsom, wants his state to stop enrolling more low-income immigrants without legal status in a state-funded healthcare program starting in 2026 and begin charging a monthly premium the following year to those already enrolled.

It is one of several measures proposed by Newsom on Wednesday to help close an additional $12bn deficit, a budget shortcoming the Democratic governor squarely placed on the shoulders of the “Trump slump”.

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Trump cabinet member’s links to El Salvador crypto firm under scrutiny

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Commerce chief Howard Lutnick’s firm backed controversial crypto giant Tether as Bukele ties deepened

Trump administration’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, and his family have had extensive business interests linked to El Salvador, whose authoritarian leader Nayib Bukele has grown close to the White House and who has courted controversy by imprisoning people deported from the US in an immigration crackdown.

El Salvador also plays host to a booming cryptocurrency and new media industry, which has numerous ties to Donald Trump allies who are seeking to make money from various ventures which have sometimes drawn the attention of authorities or ethics watchdogs.

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Trump administration offers refugee status to 49 white South Africans

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Group, including families and small children, departed for US after Trump order created relocation program

A group of 49 white South Africans departed their homeland on Sunday for the United States on a private charter plane having been offered refugee status by the Trump administration under a new program announced in February.

The group, which included families and small children, was due to arrive at Dulles international airport outside Washington DC on Monday morning local time, according to Collen Mbisi, a spokesperson for South Africa’s transport ministry.

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